I am cancelling my next appointment with the sleep center. I was going through my bills and noticed that the center charges a "facility" charge every time I have an office visit with the doctor. I pay the co-pay of $30 and then I have a 20% obligation for the $480 facility charge for the hospital and then 20% of the physicians fee of $160. They expectme to do this every six months. The visit is a how are things going, vital signs, read the data card and after a half hour I am on my way.

I don't blame you - that's outrageous for what you are getting out of it. Are they reading your card for hours of use or downloading treatment data that they go over with you? Wonder how those costs compare to a followup visit to a doctor not located in a hospital. Anybody?

Kathy

P.S. I think I just figured out how to make ends meet - as a bootleg card reader!

Thats unbelieveable would have thought I was getting punked by Ashton kutcher or something.I still can't believe they have hospitals that have no free parking within miles .Good luck and if it were me finding a new spot would be on top of the to do list.

So, that's $640. for an office visit? That's beyond ridiculous.

I hadn't encountered facility fees yet so I looked them up and found the following descriptions.

http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories ... /fees.aspx

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/06 ... and_c.html

I'm grateful for the heads up. I'm about to make an appointment with a doctor who works in a hospital. I'll make sure I ask about facility fees when I ask about her fees.

Thanks for bringing this to light ,those numbers and articles are frightening.Someone should write an ebook /book on how not to get taken in most all walks of daily life because with all the scamming going on its impossible to keep up with them all.If the book was up to date and saved me from the vultures that lurk around my wallet, I would buy a new copy each year.The book would not be able to cover everything but could save a lot of people tons of money and time watching their backs every time they sneeze,pay taxes,apply for a loan,etc......

A google search on "facility fees" easily brought up some 7 articles on just the first page of hits. Seems like most of the "big guys" like Mass General, Cedars-Sinai, Cleveland Clinic, Tufts, Brigham and Woman's, the list goes on are charging them.

How many of us w/insurance or Medicare get an itemized bill FROM THE HOSPITAL?? I'm going to ask for an ITEMIZED BILL from the hospital for the guided ultrasound thyroid FNAB I'm scheduled for Monday morning. And I'm gonna be checking every item CLOSELY! Both of our local hospitals are building outpatient clinics all over the city and the county the last few years. I suspect these "facility fees" may well be the reason. Up until recently insurances have been paying them but now many are starting to balk at doing so and thus it FINALLY is brought to our attention when WE get stuck w/them. The Medicare EOB doesn't show them and just pays them so those of us on Medicare are "protected" from them.

WHY can't we just have TRUTH IN COSTS and TRUTH IN BILLING and TRUTH IN PAYMENTS???

GADS! And to think we thought third world countries were full of graft and corruption???

If you think about it, facility charges have been occurring for a very long time, but called something differently. ...If you ever have a procedure done in an OR or a room other than the exam room, you'll get a charge.....like an operating room charge. I had a diagnostic procedure in August in a clinic, the diagnostic test was done in a creepy cramped room..and the insurance was billed almost 2K for operating room use, paid almost nothing.......the doctor was a specialist, but NO surgeon! There's lots of attempted billing creativity going on because of hospital financial troubles. One hospital was recently in the news for considering placing jars to request donations as patients register. When you look at the itemized bill, how much did the tylenol cost you? The healthcare system is in danger of financially tumbling, it's becoming more visible in billing!!!!

elg5cats

This is OT, elg5cats, but I was wondering (and hoping!!) that you are getting over your flu bug.

How is it going?? Are you making good progress at getting better?

Hawthorne wrote:This is OT, elg5cats, but I was wondering (and hoping!!) that you are getting over your flu bug.

How is it going?? Are you making good progress at getting better?

Thanks for asking!!!! I am now in DAY 18. I am improving but not over it. I still have congestion, raspy voice, cough, milder headache and asthma is still unstable, fatigue (just slept 10 hours!!!), still have 02 desats, but improving. I went back to work, dragging and following contamination precautions. This is the worse hit I've ever had with a flu illness!

elg5cats

Wow! It's been a long haul with this one! However, I am glad you are feeling at least some better.

Take care of yourself!

elg5cats wrote:If you think about it, facility charges have been occurring for a very long time, but called something differently. ...If you ever have a procedure done in an OR or a room other than the exam room, you'll get a charge.....like an operating room charge.

elg5cats

I don't mind paying for an operating room when I use one. I do have a problem with paying for it with my office visit. And how do you justify it when visiting a psychologist which was one of the examples in the cleveland clinic article I posted? In the end I wonder if it will backfire on them. There's a prestige to many hospital based doctors but nobody is going to use them if the price difference is this huge.

elg5cats wrote:I had a diagnostic procedure in August in a clinic, the diagnostic test was done in a creepy cramped room..and the insurance was billed almost 2K for operating room use, paid almost nothing.......the doctor was a specialist, but NO surgeon! There's lots of attempted billing creativity going on because of hospital financial troubles.

elg5cats

That's another issue - as a cash customer I'd be stuck paying that entire 2k. This has gone well beyond discounts for volume. The hospitals raise fees endlessly so that they can pretend to be offering the insurers a bigger discount, the insurers get to claim they are getting huge discounts for their customers (and so can rake off a bigger cut for themselves), and the cash customers are left completely out in the cold.

Billing creativity... there's a name for that.

Here's a thought... If a doctor finds being based in a facility is more profitable for them, let THEM pay the difference in what they would bill if they were in an off site office. The patient isn't getting anything more, so why pay more? I think doctors should be challenged every time this kind of thing comes to light. Ask them to explain why their routine visit is worth several hundred dollars more than their counterparts. What a load of crock. Glad to be forewarned.

kteague wrote:Here's a thought... If a doctor finds being based in a facility is more profitable for them, let THEM pay the difference in what they would bill if they were in an off site office. The patient isn't getting anything more, so why pay more? .

I'm being overcharged by a DME. When I first notified them I was being overcharged, I was asked to provide my check numbers and amounts of my payments.....the ones I sent directly to them and the deductions are evident from my account.....I told them if I am charged by the financial institution to help them correct their accounting mistakes, I will bill them for my expenses and if needed take them to small claims court for reimbursement. This weekend I just got another statement from them continuing to over bill me........I have decided after I contact them again, I am going to create a billing statement, and send it to them for my services!!!!

elg5cats

MidnightOwl wrote: Billing creativity... there's a name for that.

You ain't seen nuttin' yet! Just wait 'til Obamacare is billing the taxpayers!

LinkC wrote:You ain't seen nuttin' yet! Just wait 'til Obamacare is billing the taxpayers!

I agree Link. Single payer would be much better but unfortunately we have to go from where we already are.